He Could Never Deny Her
by mystrye
Summary: Truly he shouldn't be entertaining these thoughts. But there was just something about Rose. He could never deny her a thing... including his heart. This story follows the story of Rose and Nine and then Ten. Rated M just to be safe.
1. Never deny her

'Rose. Why is there a cat in my Tardis?'

Rose stood there in the middle of the control room holding a small black and white fluffball in her arms. The Doctor could heard the purrs from the creature from where he stood across the consol.

"Because he was lost and alone and so sad looking and I just could leave him there." Rose responded, definitely before nuzzling the cat.

The Doctor tried to keep a stern face. Fully intending to make his companion return the kitten to where ever she had found it. But seeing her nuzzle the baby creature just melted his resolve.

"I can keep him, right, Doctor?" she smiled at him and struggled to keep it from melting him. He truly could deny her nothing. Anything his Rose wanted and he would move all of time and space to get it for her. He tore his gaze from her, hoping she would not see all his thoughts and feelings in his eyes. Instead, he spun a few dials and punched some buttons and flipped some switches, sending the Tardis into motion. It rocked around them in its normal manner.

'Fine.' he stated. 'But the domestics are your responsibility. I don't clean up after animals.'

'you don't clean up after yourself. ' Rose smiled as she walked around the console and kissed his cheek. ''Thank you, Doctor.''

The Doctor watched as his companion, his Rose, coo-ed at the kitten as she walked towards her room and shook his head.

What was she doing to him that he allowed her to keep the cat!? What next?!


	2. The Doctor Dances

Chapter 2

Dance. She had wanted him to dance with her. Did she know what that would mean to him? She couldn't have. But at the same time the look in her eyes. He hadn't been able to resist taking her hand. The music played on the old radio as they waited on Jack to teleport them out and he knew she was probably just trying not to think about the situation they were in. Trying not to think about the gas mask people and the terrifying child who led them.

Now they were safe. Now they were back on the tardis and he found himself putting the music back on and pulling her towards him. He was overjoyed. Everybody lived and it had him bouncing on his toes from it all. Energy flowing through him. She wanted to dance and when she smiled and laughed like she was now, he could never deny her a thing.

The cat, one of his many indulgences, brushed against his leg. Professor Fluffbottom, she had named it. Ridiculous. But he couldn't help but smile as he took her into his arms and began to move with her to the music.

She smiled up at him as they danced. '' Doctor? What about Jack? Why did he say 'goodbye?'''

He groaned a little inwardly. ''Do we have to?" The captain had been a little too comfortable with Rose for the Doctor's liking. But as always. He couldn't deny her.

He asked and at her slight glare, he moved her around the console, managing not to step on Professor Fluffbottom. The dance never stopped or paused, there was never a false step as he pushed the buttons and levers on the console.

The tardis hummed and shook in its normal fashion and still they danced. Rose smiled and laughed as Jack's head poked through the doors. "Well hurry up. Your ship is about to explode. It'll cause a draft."

She was happy. And that made the Doctor happy. Even as she moved out of his arms as he fumbled a bit in the steps. Watching her hug Jack, made the Doctor feel uncomfortable. Then came the talk about Rose and Jack dancing and before the Doctor could think he was turning the music up again and pulling her back into his arms, swinging her around the console.

After what seemed liked forever, Rose and the Doctor managed to get Jack passed the point of wanting to dance with Rose. Then there was the hour of shock and excitement over the kitten which had taken a serious liking to the ex-time agent.

Rose was still laughing about it, a little punch drunk from the exhausting and exciting day, as the Doctor walked her to her room. She knew the way, of course, but he liked to make sure that she got there safe when she was so tired. The tardis had a habit of changing the halls and locations of the rooms at random. For his part, the Doctor managed to keep a mostly unamsued look on his face concerning Jack.

They were almost to her room when she took his hand again. ''Thank you.''

''For what, Rose? '' he tilted his head at her.

''For, well for everything I guess. For taking me with you... For letting me keep Professor Fluffbottom... Though if Jack steals him I will be very cross... '' She smiled up at him. When did she get so close to him? Neither remembered. But they were standing very close to each other in the hall just a few steps from her room. ''And thank you for dancing with me...'' she breathed out and looked like she was debating something. He was about to open his mouth to respond when she said, ''Oh what the hell...''

Her lips were pressed against his in the next instance. Her soft lips against his, her hands gripped the lapels of his jacket, pressing herself against him. He was too shocked to move at first. His Rose was kissing him. Was this real?

His hands found her waist and he returned the kiss. Opening her mouth to taste her. She moaned and her arms found their way around his neck. She couldn't believe this was happening. And he was kissing her back. All her dreams and fantasies realized in this moment. Well... One or two of them at least.

As suddenly as it started, he pulled back. She eyes were half lidded and her mouth bruised from his kisses. Both struggled to catch their breath.

''Rose... ''

''Doctor? '' she opened her eyes then and looked at him... Fear starting to creep into her eyes. Did he regret? Had she screwed up? ''Why... did you stop?'' she whispered.

He rubbed the back of his neck. '' Well... I... We shouldn't... You should go to bed, Rose. It's been a long day. '' He didn't say anything else, but turned on his heel to head towards his own room.

''Right. '' she stated, her heart sinking and confusion filling her. She didn't cry as she got ready for bed and laid done. No. But she ran it over in her head over and over again. How was she going to fix this? He had seemed so keen to dance with her. So possessive when Jack had suggested cutting in. She had just thought… maybe… maybe he might want something more than what they already had. She fell asleep after a long time, wondering how awkward the next morning would be.

The Doctor didn't need sleep. Not really. And it was a good thing too because he couldn't sleep a wink after kissing Rose. He was so much older than she. He was an alien, a Time Lord with all sorts of responsibilities and weight on his shoulders, while she was a human, a perfectly wonderful and beautiful human. No matter how much they both may want more... No matter how much it pained him when she flirted with other men… boys really… This was one thing he seriously needed to deny her.

But could he?

 **AN- So what do you think? I'm still working out how and where I'm going with this story. I know that I hope to continue this from Nine into Ten and possibly passed the point where Rose got trapped in the parallel universe.**


	3. Breakfast with Jack

Chapter 3

Rose awoke from a fitful sleep with a feeling of mild dread in her heart. She had kissed the Doctor. Actually kissed him. And at first, he had returned that kiss, she was sure of it. She had felt his hands on her waist and surely he had pulled her closer. She had tasted his tongue on hers. But then he pulled away. So fast. So suddenly. And he'd left her alone in the hallways outside her room.

With a sigh, she got out of bed, showered and dressed. She couldn't stay in her room forever. She just hoped he didn't take her back to London and leave her there. The thought almost made her cry. Swallowing her fears she ventured out of her room and headed towards the kitchen.

Jack Harkness was already there, wearing only his pants and an apron,while making eggs. Rose blinked several times, mildly stunned to see him there. Sensing she was there, he turned and smiled. "Good morning, Rose. Beautiful as always. How do you like your eggs?"

"I can't be beautiful as always, you've known me for less than 48 hours," she smiled and moved to start some tea. That's what she needed, tea.

Jack waved off her comment. "If you are beautiful now and beautiful while falling from a balloon, you are always beautiful. Now. How do you like your eggs?"

She smirked at him a little. "Scrambled is fine," she answered while waiting for the tea to brew. "Have you see the Doctor yet today?" she tried not to sound like anything was out of the ordinary. Not that Jack would know what ordinary was.

"Console room, last I checked. I asked if he wanted breakfast and he basically growled at me. Took that as a 'no.' Though he is a sight when grumpy, huh?"

Rose frowned a little at her tea cup. The Doctor was grumpy. That wasn't a good sign. She sighed and sank into a chair around the small table in the kitchen. She clearly had made a mistake yesterday. The dancing, the kiss. She had ruined their friendship. She just knew it.

She started a little as Jack set a plate of eggs in front of her. "How do you like your tea?"

After a moment to realize what he had said she told him and began pushing the eggs around her plate. A few moments later he sat down in the opposite chair. "Alright, spill?"

"What?" she looked up at him inquisitively.

"You are lost in thought. The Doc is grumpy. Clearly something happened after I was shoved in a room last night. Did you guys have fun without me? Was the sex that bad?"

"WHAT! No! I mean... No. There was no sex... "

"Oh so that's the problem!" He took a big bite of eggs. "Seriously, you two need to just get it on. The tension is insane. You both will feel better. Promise. Though I'm always available if you change your mind."

Rose shook her head almost violently. "No, you are mistaken. He clearly doesn't want me like that…" She stated, purposefully ignoring his proposition.

"But you want him. That's obvious."

"What. No... I mean... " She sighed and shoved several forkfuls of eggs into her mouth before she said something she would regret. It didn't matter how she felt about the Doctor. She didn't even dare admit to herself right now because if she did, his rejection the night before would just hurt all the more.

"Methinks the Rose protest too much," Jack grinned at her.

"Well if she is protesting then maybe you should stop flirting with her," the Doctor walked into the kitchen so suddenly that Rose nearly choked on her eggs. "See," he continued, "not a good effect to have on a lady, Jack. Give up now before something worse happens. She's obviously not interested."

Jack leaned back in his chair now that he was done with his food, balancing the chair on the back two legs. "Oh, I got that impression. I see you are still grumpy. What's got your sonic in a twist?"

The Doctor shot him a look and poured himself some tea. ''Ain't nothing's got me grumpy. This is how I always am. Ornery and brooding and stuff. Ain't that right, Rose?''

Her name on his lips made her jump a little. "Right. Same ol' Doctor," she flashed him a forced smile and stood to clear her plate.

"See!" The Doctor pointed at Jack. "Now go put a shirt on. Bad enough I'm gonna have to burn that apron now."

Jack laughed and sauntered out of the kitchen, knowing he needed to leave the two alone.

Rose stood at the sink washing the plate even after it was spotless.

"Rose... " The Doctor's voice was lower now, softer... And it made her shiver a little. It was the voice of a lover and it scared her, for surely she was misreading him again.

"Hmmm?" was all she could manage. She didn't quite trust her voice yet.

He stared at her for several moment. Watching her face from where he stood, leaning against the counter mere inches from where she was trying to scrub the pattern off a plate.

"We should talk," he stated.

"About what?" She answered. "Whatever could there be for us to talk about? Nothing to talk about. Nothing meaningful or anything that we should talk about. Because nothing happened. We didn't dance. We didn't kiss. You didn't walk away without an explanation. Nothing happened. Nothing to talk about," she rambled. Her voice oddly high pitched but not loud and she hated herself the minute the wordless left her lips and she struggled not to cry. She couldn't cry now. Not in front of him. He hated domestics and her crying, that would cinch the deal. She finally looked up at him. "Are you going to send me home now?"

"Oh Rose. My Rose. No." The Doctor laid a hand on her cheek and looked into her eyes. "You are always welcome here. I'd never send you away."

Rose chewed on the inside of her cheek as she tried to think. Tried not to lean into his touch too much. She'd already done almost everything she could to send him running... If she was going to stay, surely he'd want her to keep her distance. "What... What did you want to talk about, if not about last night?"

"I do want to talk to you about last night," he stated.

"Oh. Right... Well, I am sorry. I shouldn't have kissed you. I... I don't know what came over me and... I'm sorry that I stepped over that line. I didn't mean to offend you or assault you or anything like that. It... It won't happen again, I promise," she rambled again.

He shook his head a little and brushed her cheek with his fingertips. "Rose. It's not that at all," he sighed and pulled back from her, turning to lean back against the counter again. "Rose. I'm over nine centuries old. You are 19? Right? And human."

"Is something wrong with being human? Are we repulsive to your species? I mean... You know…" Rose blushed a little and tried not to look at him. Not sure she really wanted to know that she was repulsive to him.

"No! That's not it."

"So it's just me that you aren't attracted to." It wasn't a question when it left her lips.

He spun towards her again, placing his hands on her shoulders so he looked into her eyes. "No, Rose. I am. So help me, I am. You are so fantastic! But you are 19. A child compared to me. I couldn't. It would be right. And on top of that... I will keep on living. If I... If we…" he sighed."'I can't because I don't want to have to watch you wither away and die hating me because I couldn't do the same."

She stared into his eyes for a moment before raising a hand to caress his cheek. "I don't care."

"What?"

"I don't care if you are older. I don't care about growing old while you stay young. I just... I want to enjoy what we have... Can have... For as long as we can have it, Doctor." She leaned forward, slowly so he could stop her if he wanted to. He didn't. Their lips met with a hungry passion. His hands tangled themselves in her blonde locks as she wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing close to him. She blood pounded in her ears and she could feel his double heart beat against his chest.

The Doctor crushed her to him. He had tried, he wanted to push her away. Save her the pain. Save himself the pain. But he couldn't. He had her pinned against the counter before long, and they moved against each other. His one hand found its way under her shirt and she moaned against him.

A loud meow echoed in the kitchen and when neither paid any attention to Professor Fluffbottom at first, he got more persistent. He jumped up on the counter and proceeded to bat at Rose until she finally broke from the Doctor. The man proceeded to glare at the feline.

"You have the worst timing," he grumbled the sighed. "Though probably for the best," he pulled away from her a little and she pouted a little and opened her mouth to argue before he laid a finger on her lips. "Don't you worry, my fantastic Rose. This is not the end. But maybe we should take things slower."

She smiled and pushed away from the counter. "So, Doctor. Where are we going now?"

"Cardiff," he answered and took her hand to lead her to the console room.

"Cardiff? Weren't we just there... " She followed with a slight frown.

 **AN- So what do we think? I write via google docs and while I try and edit properly, there may be some weird formatting problems. Please let me know if there are any typos or weird quirks. I hope you guys are liking where this is going. I always just felt like the relationship between The Doctor and Rose needed explored more. I will be continuing to follow the course of the episodes by focusing on the downtimes in between what we saw on screen instead of playing through each episode in depth. I am looking for a Beta or some one to bounce ideas off of.**

 **Please review!**


	4. Cardiff

**AN- Sorry for such a long delay in posting but I was having a lot of problems figuring out how to do this chapter, without just rehashing the whole episode word for word, but give enough of it so that you got the feel of the episode's story. I've rewritten it about four times. Let me know what you think!**

Chapter 4

The Tardis needed recharging. That's what the Doctor said. So they were setting down in Cardiff on top of a rift so the energy would refuel and they could be off again. It had been a few days since the incident in the kitchen but things had been going… well. Rose could call it well. They weren't walking around on eggshells, but there didn't seem to be any major changes to their relationship either. But one thing she knew, she wasn't going anywhere, so she was going to need a few things from home.

"I'm gonna call Mickey and let him know we've landed." Rose commented, pulling out her phone as the Tardis landed with its normal sounds.

"What do you need to call your boyfriend for?" The Doctor frowned and flipped some switches on the console. A dark look on his face.

Rose frowned at him, still holding her phone in her hand, the number undialed. "He's not my boyfriend."

"Did you ever break up with him?'' The tone of his voice made Rose frown. She couldn't really figure out what the tone meant. Was he jealous?

"Well, not exactly." She responded, hesitantly, studying the man across from her. He was using his leather coat as armor again. She could tell that much.

"So he's your boyfriend. You jus' snog me when it's convenient." His comment almost took him by surprise. Even though the thought had run through his mind several times, he was shocked when he said it out loud. But he didn't take it back, just continued to focus on the Tardis console, checking to make sure all the settings were right and functioning… or just avoiding looking at Rose, if he was being honest with himself.

"Why are you being like this?" Rose glared at him and he didn't even look up from the screen he was looking at.

"Being like what? We are back in the 21st century for a little bit and your first thought is 'Let's call Rickey the Idiot.'" He answered, moving about the console. What the hell was he doing? Ruining things, that's what! Just like he always did. But maybe it was for the best. He groaned inwardly.

"Cause I want my passport and couple other things from home! But sure! You're right! Maybe I do jus' wanna see my boyfriend!" Rose exclaimed before bending over to pick up the cat which had been rubbing against her leg and stormed off to call Mickey. She brushed passed Jack on her way towards her room leaving the man looking back and forth between his two friends.

"Aw, Come on! I thought you two got over this!" The American sighed, before glaring at the Doctor.

Rose barely talked to the Doctor once Mickey arrived and for his part said Doctor sulked, brooded, and made jokes in his normal way but eventually agreed that they should all go and get food. The rest of the day flew by in a blur of chasing down Margaret, the Slitheen woman they had faced in Number 10 Downing Street. Now the female Slitheen was in the Tardis blathering on while Jack and the Doctor discussed taking her back to her home planet to stand trial.

Standing there listening, Rose felt like she needed some air. So she found herself sitting on a ledge overlooking the water with Mickey while he rambled on about taking her out and getting a hotel if she wanted. She looked at him, mildly shocked at his suggestion. Where had this come from?

Against everything screaming inside her, she contemplated it. She really shouldn't. Should just tell him no and go find the Doctor. But she didn't. The Doctor had been so cold to her since they landed. Well, there had been a few moments of laughter and familiarity but somehow those moment became awkward and uncomfortable after they passed. Something was going on in his head but he was so caught up with dealing with Margaret that he had practically forgotten Rose.

So instead of saying no, instead of saying goodbye and returning to the Tardis and the Doctor, Rose found herself agreeing and tried to make sure her smile seemed genuine. And when Mickey asked if she should tell the Doctor that they were leaving she almost couldn't believe the words that left her lips.

'None of his business.'

The Doctor for his part was busy with Margaret, the Slitheen, who was quite keen to play on every pity card she could manage. Which somehow included dragging him out to dinner. He played it off fairly well, ducking her attempts to kill him and get away. Some other time he might have found it amusing. But instead it annoyed him. His mind kept going back to Rose. His Rose who was out there somewhere with Rickey the idiot, when she should be having dinner with him. Spending time with him, the Doctor. When all this was over, he was going to make sure he apologized profusely for the way he acted.

He didn't have much more time to think on the subject as the rift started to open.

 **AN- Well? Please review!**


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